We write in
response to your recent letters addressed to the Cities of Westminster
and Garden Grove, and public comments in your governments propaganda mouthpiece,
the Nhan Dan Daily, regarding our respective city councils unanimous approval
of resolutions to honor the Vietnamese nationalist flag as a symbol of
freedom and democracy for the Vietnamese-American community. This letter
also serves as a general response to your embassy's numerous protest letters
over the same issue within the past three months; via your ambassador and
your embassy's press attache, Nguyen Tam Chien and Bach Ngoc Chien, respectively.

We categorically
reject your governments contention that the resolutions in Westminster
and Garden Grove approving the local display of the Vietnamese nationalist
flag, as represented by three horizontal red stripes on a yellow background,
violate international conventions and practices. As independent, elected
municipal entities, we do not answer to the U.S. federal government, or
to Hanoi, on an issue that involves the wishes and desires of our constituents.
The Vietnamese-American community in our two cities has the right to select
and display its own political symbol, on city-owned property, as allowed
by the resolutions. Under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,
the right of an American citizen or a community to disavow the Vietnamese
communist flag, by way of favoring the nationalist flag, trumps any contravening
laws or diplomatic conventions.

Surely, a local
jurisdiction has the legal authority to permit the Vietnamese-American
community to display its own political symbol at any community functions
and events on any city-owned property and facility. The passage of these
resolutions is a formal reflection of the wishes of our Vietnamese-American
constituents and residents, who comprise a substantial population in Westminster
and Garden Grove. Unlike your government, which is centralized in nature
and dictatorial in practice, the U.S. is a democracy represented by duly
elected officials, at all levels, who are directly answerable not to the
Party, but to the people.

Also, your
assertion that the flag resolutions obstruct diplomatic relations between
the U.S. and Vietnam is without merit. As prescribed by the U.S. Constitution,
only the federal government has the authority to establish foreign policy
with other nations. In this case, the resolutions introduced and approved
by Westminster and Garden Grove do not in any form or content, interfere
or inhibit the constitutional authority of Washington, DC, to conduct foreign
policy with Hanoi. The chronic and ongoing obstruction tothe improvement
of ties between the two countries is due to your governments systematic
and continuing violation of human and civil rights. The U.S. government
and various independent human rights organizations such as Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch, and Asia Watch, have annually reported and condemned
your government for numerous cases of human rights abuses.

In order to
create better ties with the U.S., we suggest that Hanoi should immediately
release all political and religious prisoners and respects the right of
its own citizens to freely associate and to elect their own representatives.
Only when Vietnam decides to join the international community as a truly
free and democratic nation could it begin to establish normal relations
with the U.S. The spirit of friendship and cooperation you have extolled
could not be fully developed when your government continues to wage war
on its own citizens.

Lastly, your
recent comments on the Nhan Dan Daily, falsely claiming to speak for the
Vietnamese-American community in this country on the flag issue, as well
as your specific criticisms directed at four Vietnamese Americans, three
of whom are elected officials of this country, were highly inappropriate,
at best, and illegal, at worse. As a foreign bureaucrat operating in the
U.S., diplomatic protocols and treaties with our government explicitly
prohibits you from interfering in the internal affairs of this country,
especially on local issues that affect the daily activities of American
citizens. When you made such intrusive comments about Vietnamese-Americans
in this country, which your government does not represent, you are acting
beyond the scope of your limited duty as a foreign diplomat.

Adverse diplomatic
consequences on you, personally, and against your government, shall be
felt should you continue to act in such an undiplomatic manner. You and
your colleagues should immediately cease and desist from meddling in the
internal affairs of our community.